Research supported by U.S charity the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Foundation – which is funded by NAMM Members through trade association activities and private donations –
is expanding understanding about the impact of music making and music education, the importance of music at every stage of life, and relationships between music and physical and emotional wellness.

The results of a research project by Northwestern University, published in July 2015, suggest that music training, begun as late as high school, may help improve the teenage brain’s responses to sound and sharpen hearing and language skills.

A study by researchers led by Dr Nina Kraus of Northwestern University suggests that music training can help people’s auditory attention to mature during pivotal developmental years and is believed to provide the first direct evidence of a ‘biological index for enhanced selective auditory attention in young musicians’. The researchers say that is an important consideration for educators and educational policy-makers involved in curriculum design.

Dr Nina Kraus’sstudy into the effects of music training on disadvantaged young people in Los Angeles has found that the level of participation – attendance at classes, practice – affects the changes that result in the brain and the related reading scores. To read more click anywhere on this excerpt …